In going through my accumulated treasures, selecting items for our annual town-wide yard sale, I came across a stash of theater programs that I’d purchased at another yard sale many years ago. The ads in the programs were wonderful, with illustrations and headlines for products from the 1930s and ‘40s. But the plays themselves, astonishing. The premiere performances of ‘Porgy & Bess,’ of Eugene O’Neill’s ‘Ah, Wilderness!’ (with George M. Cohan) and ‘Mourning Becomes Electra’ (with Alla Nazimova.) A young Brando was featured in ‘I Remember Mama.’ And there’s a ballet program for an American tour by Anna Pavlova. How can you put a price on things like this? Easy.
Hi Sandy,
ReplyDeleteI came across this post just now and am very intrigued by the "Mourning Becomes Electra" program.
I am writing a series of novels set at Alla Nazimova's Garden of Allah Hotel during Hollywood's golden age, and also co-founded the Alla Nazimova Society with Jon Ponder from www.PlaygroundToTheStars.com
I was wondering if you could photograph any of the pages inside the program with either Nazimova's photograph or credit? That would be wonderful.
You can reach me at http://www.martinturnbull.com/contact-me/
Thanks so much!
Martin Turnbull